Remaking Literacy

y c a r e t i L

Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning, Grades K–5

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/literacy to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

Educator and Author “Maslyk’s book is a must-have for all K–5 teachers who want to add a different spin to literacy in their classrooms. Remaking Literacy infuses literacy concepts into the world of making. This book is a must-read if you are a maker or need new ways to spark students’ writing.”

—BILLY KRAKOWER, Author and Co-Founder, Evolving Educators

Maslyk

• Examine the ways maker education can enhance teaching and empower student learning • Learn how to reimagine instruction so students build crucial literacy, collaboration, and thinking skills • Study various low- and high-tech resources and how to use them in the classroom • Receive checklists and planning tools for incorporating maker and design techniques in classrooms immediately • Reflect on each chapter’s strategies and ideas by answering end-of-chapter questions

—JENNIFER WILLIAMS,

Innovative Instructional Strategies

K–5 teachers and administrators will:

“Offered as a practical guide for elementary educators ready to transform literacy instruction, Remaking Literacy is a mustadd book for a classroom teacher’s bookshelf. With readyto-implement ideas backed by research and practice, Jacie Maslyk supports readers to be curious designers as they tinker and explore with innovative ways of thinking and teaching.”

for Maker Learning, Grades K–5

In Remaking Literacy: Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning, Grades K–5, author Jacie Maslyk transforms literacy teaching and learning by integrating maker education into the classroom. Maker education—an approach to instruction that emphasizes hands-on learning experiences—creates innovative opportunities that shape students into creative thinkers. Maslyk shares practical, research-based strategies for incorporating creativity and design thinking into literacy instruction.

K–5 educators will learn how to reimagine their classrooms so students’ learning develops in engaging and visible ways.

Remaking Literacy

REMAKING

REMAKING

y c a r Lite Grades K–5

Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning

JACIE MASLYK

Copyright © 2020 by Solution Tree Press Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/literacy to download the free reproducibles in this book.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maslyk, Jacie, author.

Title: Remaking literacy : innovative instructional strategies for maker learning, grades K-5 / Jacie Maslyk.

Description: Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019004071 | ISBN 9781947604698 (perfect bound) Subjects: LCSH: Literacy--Study and teaching (Elementary) | Language arts (Elementary) | Maker movement in education. | Active learning.

Classification: LCC LB1576 .M3927 2019 | DDC 372.6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004071 Solution Tree Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO Edmund M. Ackerman, President Solution Tree Press President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife Associate Publisher: Sarah Payne-Mills Art Director: Rian Anderson Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton Senior Production Editor: Tara Perkins Content Development Specialist: Amy Rubenstein Copy Editor: Kate St. Ives Proofreader: Jessi Finn Text Designer: Jill Resh Cover Designer: Laura Cox Editorial Assistant: Sarah Ludwig

Table of Contents Reproducible pages are in italics.

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Need for Remaking Literacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Maker Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Maker Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Maker Learning and Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Who This Book Is For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Helpful Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Maker Movement Resources: Blogs, Books, and More! . . . . . 11

CHAPTER 1 What the Research Says. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Benefits of Maker Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 How Making Supports Active Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Integration of Making Across Content Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Enthusiasm for Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 How Making Supports Thinking Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Accessibility for All Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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REMAKING LITERACY Remaking Literacy as a Social Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 How Making Supports Text Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

CHAPTE R 2 Creative Pathways to Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Making in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Forms of Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The Four Cs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Maker Mindset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Transforming Literacy Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 What It Looks Like in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

CHAPTE R 3 Thinking and Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Fostering Design Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Incorporating Thinking Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Making Student Thinking Visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Using Design and Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

CHAPTER 4 Low-Tech Making. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 What Low-Tech Making Is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 How Low-Tech Making Supports Student Skill Building . . . 88 Low-Tech Literacy Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Preparation and Messiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Table of Contentsďťż

CHAPTER 5 Remaking With Maker Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 What Maker Tech Is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Student Empowerment Through Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Storytelling Through Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Video and Green Screen Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Literature Learning Connections With Robotics . . . . . . . . . 117 Personal Story Creation Using Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 LEGO Tech Tools for Literacy Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Interactive Makey-Makey Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Online Tools to Extend Literacy Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

CHAPTER 6 Guidance for Implementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Ensuring Open-Ended Instruction and Language . . . . . . . . 127 Designing Maker Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Embedding Reflection and Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Ensuring Professional Learning for Educators. . . . . . . . . . . 133 Building a Remaking Literacy Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Gauging Effectiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Celebrating the Successes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

APPENDIX A Remaking Literacy Book List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Theme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

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REMAKING LITERACY Dispositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Content, Theme, and Dispositions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Upper-Elementary Book Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

APPENDIX B Remaking Literacy Sample Rubric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

APPENDIX C Web Resources List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 References and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

About the Author Jacie Maslyk, EdD, is the assistant superintendent in the Hopewell Area School District located outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a former director of elementary education and elementary principal in the Carlynton School District in Pennsylvania, where, in addition to her work in curriculum and instruction, she led professional development in literacy and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) education. Jacie has been an educator since 1997 when she started as an elementary teacher for kindergarten and first grade. With a love for teaching reading, she went back to school to earn her reading specialist certification and went on to be a reading specialist and literacy coach in the Mt. Lebanon School District in the Pittsburgh suburbs. She also taught online courses for her local intermediate unit, a regional educational service agency that provides supports to educators and school systems in Pennsylvania.

Jacie has published numerous articles on topics including principal leadership, designing effective interventions, and leading STEAM and making in schools. She is the author of several other books, including STEAM Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom and Connect to Lead: Power Up Your Learning Network to Move Your School Forward. Jacie is also a featured blogger for Demco and Defined STEM. Jacie is a member of a variety of educational organizations, including the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the xi

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International Literacy Association (ILA), and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). She is also a longtime member of the Pennsylvania Principals Association and was awarded the Frank S. Manchester Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2015. She was also named a National Distinguished Principal (NDP) in Pennsylvania in 2013 and 2014. She has presented throughout the United States and Canada on topics ranging from leadership and literacy to creativity and maker education.

Jacie received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in instructional leadership from Robert Morris University, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

To learn more about Jacie’s work, visit www.steam-makers.com and https://jaciemaslyk.blogspot.com or follow @DrJacieMaslyk on Twitter.

To book Jacie Maslyk for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.

Introduction A busy group of fourth graders are having an in-depth discussion at their table.

They are tinkering with some cardboard while one student is looking up different images on his device. Students go back and forth in the conversation, almost like a debate. As the dialogue intensifies, one student stands up and says, “I completely disagree with you. Roz would not have those materials in the woods. Remember, we have to think of some other materials that we can use that show we understand the setting of the story!� Several students agree, and they go back to a sketch that they’ve started at their table.

These students are reading The Wild Robot (Brown, 2016), a story about a remarkable robot, Roz, who finds herself on a wooded island surrounded by nature and wildlife. In an effort to fit in, Roz tries to camouflage herself with the natural materials around her. The teacher has asked the students to create a summary of what is going on with the main character at a certain point in the story. This group of students has built a cardboard model of Roz but wants to explain how Roz uses camouflage. They know that Roz and the other characters would only have access to natural materials in the story, so they head outside to gather twigs, leaves, and grass to add to their model.

Other student groups are working on other tasks around the room. Some look at other chapters from the book. One group creates a scene from a chapter, using their iPad to make a stop-motion animation video to summarize that chapter. Sure, they could all write summaries in their journals or take a short quiz, but their classroom encourages creating as a way to show what they know in creative and personalized ways.

This classroom teacher has reimagined her approach to literacy and frequently pairs quality literature with hands-on experiences, giving her students the

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REMAKING LITERACY opportunity to build, design, and create within her English language arts (ELA) classroom. She also remakes her literacy instruction by embedding tasks that regularly require student thinking and creativity. Her approach is different from that of most ELA classes in her school, since she frequently exposes her students to tools and materials that aren’t usually associated with reading and writing. Her ELA classroom focuses on building literacy skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in hands-on ways that offer creativity and choice for learners.

Coding and robotics, cardboard and hot glue guns, mini motors and recyclable materials are all used within this teacher’s ELA block. She explores unconventional ways to engage students through hands-on learning, selecting new and interesting stories to pull her students in and adding interactive tasks to her vocabulary and writing instruction. This has resulted in an increase in student understanding. She offers creative opportunities that not only support literacy learning but also enhance skills like collaboration and creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson (2006) says, “Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” Educators are skillfully integrating literacy and creativity in ways that can exponentially expand student understanding and innovative thinking. I call this mix of learning remaking literacy. It is a way of thinking that creates new experiences combining literacy teaching and learning through creativity and design. For teachers, remaking means rethinking their ELA practices and reimagining the impact on literacy development when students engage in hands-on opportunities. It may mean redoing lesson plans or re-envisioning classroom practices. For students, remaking offers the chance to engage in the use of unconventional materials and the creation of tangible products through maker learning.

The Need for Remaking Literacy We must stop and ask whether traditional, predictable research-based reading programs that provide a uniform approach to literacy instruction also promote innovative thinking, or if they simply reinforce the consumption of information by students. I have observed that many teachers find themselves enhancing the basal program and adding their own creativity to make it more meaningful for students, which suggests that these teachers feel a need to make literacy instruction more engaging even if they have not deeply considered the need yet. While it is often the predictable plan embedded in the basal that provides a systematic

Introduction

approach for educators, students may not develop an interest in authentic pieces of literature when they are limited to the scope of the basal (Romano-Arrabito, 2017). In addition, the reliance on paper-and-pencil work incorporated through many basal programs reduces opportunities for students to personalize their learning and engage in creative tasks.

Limiting students to the fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice structure of basal assessments limits their creativity and reduces the chance for them to think beyond the materials that the basal provides.

Let me be clear—your students will learn to read if you follow the basal programs out there. They will decode, spell, and conjugate. They just might not be passionate, creative literacy learners. They will comply and march through the prescribed tasks every week, but we have to ask ourselves, “Is that good enough?”

In 2018, I heard an elementary principal talking with a group of teachers at a maker workshop on the topic of ELA instruction. “We don’t do the five-day death march,” he asserted. You probably know what he’s talking about—the routine way that we push our students through prescribed plans from the basal reader. For example, on Monday, the teacher reads the story out loud and introduces the vocabulary (likely via a worksheet). On Tuesday, students reread the story with a partner and practice spelling words (even if they already know how to spell them). When Wednesday comes, the teacher either reads the story out loud again or has students listen to a recording. He or she will provide a vocabulary review and ask students to answer the comprehension questions placed at the end of the text. Thursday brings another rereading of the selection and review for the big test. We know what happens at the end of the week.

Fridays are always test days.

The class has trudged through the week, completed all worksheets, and practiced reading the story in repetitive and often ineffective ways. Now the students will be able to show the teacher what they know (or will they?). The teacher gives a reading test, a vocabulary test, a grammar test, and a spelling test, and then calls it quits until starting a new story on Monday. The march continues on.

I hope the preceding routine is not your reality, but for many teachers, it is. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. I admit it. I tend to be a little hard on basal readers, and maybe it’s not realistic for you to abandon this resource and go rogue. That is OK. There are plenty of ways that you can remake your literacy instruction and still use the resources that your

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district has provided. That’s the beauty of remaking literacy: the strategies involved aren’t tied to one program or even one particular book. We can embed opportunities for students to use design thinking (an approach to problem solving that involves critical thinking, creativity, and empathy), interact with the text in engaging ways, and use hands-on strategies to demonstrate their understanding of a story by moving beyond the teacher’s manual and reimagining ways that students can actively engage and make something.

We can remake literacy in both big and small ways. This book will illustrate how teachers can apply maker learning to provide alternate opportunities to the five-day death march, allowing students to do, design, draw, or make to further their understanding within the context of English language arts.

Maker Learning Maker learning focuses on students as creators, as opposed to consumers. It is an educational movement that promotes the belief that students can design, construct models, and invent new things. Many credit Dale Dougherty and the launch of his Maker Faire (see https://makerfaire.com) and Make: magazine (see https://makezine.com) in 2005 as the start of the movement. The initiative began to move into schools as they developed makerspaces, and hands-on learning re-emerged as an opportunity for students. Maker learning provides opportunities to use tools and materials in different ways and explore possibilities both in and beyond the curriculum. While making meaning through the exploration of materials is not a new idea, infusing this method into English language arts (ELA) presents new and different opportunities for students.

Different from experiences offered within a traditional basal ELA program, maker learning provides a multisensory approach to reading and writing. Making may incorporate the use of building materials, robotics, or animation into the ELA classroom, which is in stark contrast to an approach that primarily relies on text, discussion, and paper-and-pencil assessments. Maker learning is an empowering way for students to learn, which is why physical makerspaces are popping up in classrooms and libraries across North America. These flexible spaces are designed around students’ needs and interests to welcome messy, hands-on learning and offer a variety of tools and materials for learning to explore. Makerspaces may be within libraries or classroom spaces and can even include

Introduction

workshop-style areas for students to use paint, hot glue guns, hand tools, or technology equipment.

As makerspaces are finding their way into schools, hands-on learning is re-emerging as a way for students to express themselves and demonstrate what they know. Tracy Rudzitis (2016) calls making “a shortcut for talking about hands-on, minds-on learning” (p. 19). While different scholars may refer to this concept in a variety of ways, including terms such as maker learning or maker education, throughout this book, I will use the term maker learning to describe the flexibility and freedom that students have to engage in creation to express their wonderings, understandings, and interests.

Maker learning is more than spaces and materials; it’s about the mindset. It is a belief that creativity, imagination, and tinkering are engaging methods for learning. Maker learning pushes student thinking and demands perseverance. The maker mindset reflects a belief in the value of hands-on learning and creative expression. It is playful and exploratory and applies to students and educators. As we look to remake our practices, it will require an open mind and a willingness to take risks on the part of the teacher. When teachers develop a maker mindset, they find ways to make this happen in their classrooms. It allows for creative thought and collaborative innovation. It is a mindset that honors inquiry and applauds failure because through these processes, learners gain creative confidence while building important skills (Kelley & Kelley, 2013). Through these experiences, learners are able to build critical dispositions that will allow them to be successful throughout their education and lives. Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick (2014) share the importance of these learning dispositions, also known as Habits of Mind—a set of sixteen characteristics that include persisting, thinking flexibly, and taking responsible risks—all dispositions that can be fostered when students engage in tasks that involve thinking critically and grappling with new or challenging ideas. These are the same characteristics that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and ISTE Standards for Students emphasize.

The Maker Movement The maker movement in education embraces the do-it-yourself (DIY) nature of society, fueled by designing, building, hacking, and tinkering

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with a variety of tools and materials (note that hacking, for the purposes of this book, refers to adding a new or clever twist to an existing practice, and can refer to activities the student engages in or the ways teachers alter their instruction). This movement coincides with the launch and growing popularity of Etsy, a platform for makers and crafters to sell their products, and the popularity of home remodeling TV shows and do-it-yourself videos on YouTube. The maker movement is officially in full swing, as schools, libraries, and communities create makerspaces—that is, spaces dedicated to fostering the hands-on learning of young people and adults (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014; Martin, 2015).

In classrooms, libraries, and other dedicated or informal makerspaces, learners have the chance to pursue things they are passionate about in ways that are creative and often autonomous rather than fully reliant on predetermined steps. From sewing to computer programming, from video game design to sculpture, making is a creative outlet that can connect easily with many aspects of curriculum, including the study of literature and English language arts. Though ELA teachers may not consider themselves makers by nature, this book will provide the connections to bring making into any ELA classroom. The passion for creation is contagious.

It is moving into our classrooms as teachers provide opportunities for students to create with tools and materials once reserved for the art room or the woodshop.

This is a new way of looking at how we design literacy instruction by infusing the maker movement directly into our classrooms. For additional resources on the maker movement and ideas for implementing making in your classroom, see the reproducible “Maker Movement Resources: Blogs, Books, and More!� (see page 11).

Maker Learning and Literacy Remaking literacy instruction means looking for possibilities to remix, rewire, and rejuvenate existing instructional strategies. By remaking our literacy practices and enriching them with hands-on experiences for student readers and writers, we go beyond reading and writing to connect literacy concepts with necessary 21st century skills, commonly known as the four Cs: creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. These must be a part of teaching in our literacy classrooms if we are to prepare our students for the future. In its Framework for 21st Century Learning, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21; 2019)

Introduction

emphasizes the importance of building skills that will prepare students for college, career, and beyond. The four Cs, also known as learning and innovation skills, will prepare learners for the complex life and work of the future. By embedding these skills into our educational programs now, we are equipping our students with the tools they will need to be successful beyond their K–12 education. The ability to integrate concepts is an important prerequisite for students going to college and entering careers. This ability leads to innovation, and innovation is not exclusive to scientists, programmers, and engineers; it requires input from artists, designers, and writers, as well. Remaking literacy welcomes the strengths and interests of all learners and creates pathways for meaningful, connected learning.

We know that good readers are active readers who think, question, consider, uncover, and reflect. They put themselves into the minds of endearing characters or masterful authors as they analyze dialogue, make predictions, and solve problems. Students are doing this in classrooms around the world through discussions, research papers, charts, notetaking, essays, and quizzes. But what if, instead, they could take their understanding of reading and writing and develop it in visible, creative, and engaging ways? This book will provide a variety of innovative instructional strategies to reimagine literacy instruction in such ways.

We can embed hands-on experiences for students when we incorporate maker learning into our classroom practices. While we don’t always think about ELA courses as hands-on, we can reimagine the ways we approach literacy and combine it with the practical application of maker learning.

Applicable to all content areas, literacy is the foundation that ties all subjects together. Through reading, writing, speaking, and listening experiences, we are building literacy skills in every class we teach. No longer does hands-on learning need to be separate from literacy. Instead, literacy can be the link to connecting learning across all content areas. We can craft lessons that combine the research-based strategies of effective literacy instruction with the innovative opportunities that making provides to the creative thinkers in your classroom. This book will provide crosscurricular connections beyond the ELA classroom as teachers use texts within those subjects, as well.

If you read to your students, if they engage with text in your classroom, or if you ask them to write and reflect on their learning, then Remaking Literacy will provide you with simple strategies to increase student engagement and improve understanding. This approach provides a creative

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pathway for your students to boost comprehension, increase vocabulary knowledge, and improve writing skills when paired with handson learning.

Who This Book Is For This book is filled with research-supported concepts, practical strategies, and rich examples that point the way toward creative, engaging literacy instruction connected to maker learning. It is for every K–5 teacher working to prepare students for futures that will require collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and creativity. This book will support the work of classroom teachers, librarians, reading specialists, instructional coaches, curriculum leaders, and principals.

For self-contained K–5 classroom teachers, this book will provide a background in making and design thinking that enhances literacy learning, while providing guidance to make these instructional shifts. For contentspecific teachers, this book will provide techniques to incorporate literature and making into your subject areas. Readers will find inspiration in the stories from schools and classrooms that are already engaging in this connected learning. For educational leaders, this text will serve as a great tool for professional development, providing direction to those interested in getting started in remaking instruction in your school.

Chapter Contents Chapter 1 (page 13) will investigate what the research says about effective literacy instruction and how maker learning can further enhance student understanding. The chapter will present the research-based benefits of maker learning and introduce three focus areas in literature that offer opportunities for maker learning (content, theme, and disposition).

Consult chapter 1 if you’d like to understand the research that supports the reasons for using remaking strategies, and their benefits. If you are hungry to dive into the content and strategies for remaking, feel free to jump to any of the following chapters.

Chapter 2 (page 31) will introduce practical connections between literacy and maker learning and the fundamental concepts behind these connections. We will explore the beliefs of the remaking mindset. Within the chapter, we will set the stage for how we can reimagine our literacy practices with small changes that have a large impact on students. We

Introduction

will also walk through a sample week of literacy learning and consider some options for remaking literacy instruction using the maker mindset and methodology.

In chapter 3 (page 59), we will dig into design thinking, providing a background on how this strategy is being used in schools. It will describe schoolwide and classroom-based design thinking practices that can be used at any level. The chapter will include tools to facilitate design thinking in the classroom and ways to infuse thinking practices into reading and writing instruction.

Chapter 4 (page 85) will focus on low-tech maker learning with an emphasis on low-cost, low-tech, low-prep ways to provide maker experiences in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking. Lesson ideas will include the use of cardboard, clean recyclables, craft supplies, paper, and other simple tools. The chapter will provide suggestions for ways to accumulate and organize low-tech materials as well as share additional resources for educators.

Chapter 5 (page 109) will provide remaking literacy strategies with different educational technology tools. It will include an exploration of high-tech resources that lead to maker experiences in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking. Readers will learn about augmented reality apps and virtual reality experiences to advance writing and speaking.

The final chapter (page 125) will offer guidance for implementation as you remake your literacy instruction using maker learning. We will get ready to innovate by considering instructional approaches, lesson design, professional learning, and planning tools.

Helpful Features Each chapter of Remaking Literacy will open with an inspiring quote with a focus on literacy and innovation, followed by a vignette describing the remaking I have witnessed in classrooms. Within the text, chapters will include relevant stories from schools, K–5 lesson examples and ideas, and literature connections. Charts, checklists, rubrics, and images of student work will provide guidance to readers.

Helpful text features include a Maker Memo to provide quick tips and added insight to topics and Minds on Making that prompts readers with reflection questions ideal for professional development or personal reflection. At various points in the text, a reflective prompt will also be included

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with the hashtag #RemakeLiteracy so that readers can engage with other innovators in the Twitter community. Various literacy lessons will also be embedded throughout the book to provide practical ideas for classroom lessons. The Instructional Example icon featured here in the left margin calls attention to these examples. These lessons will provide a simple outline so that teachers can try the strategies in their classrooms tomorrow.

Appendices A and B offer additional tools and resources. Appendix A (page 147) provides an extensive list of content-themed book titles that can support remaking literacy in your classroom. Appendix B (page 157) provides a rubric that can be used with remaking literacy learning experiences. Appendix C (page 159) provides a comprehensive list describing each web resource featured throughout this book. The appendices will provide readers with ready-to-use classroom tools that can help with the implementation and assessment of remaking practices.

This book will challenge you to think about student learning and how we engage students through hands-on experiences. It will help you to reimagine the ways students can connect with books and build critical literacy skills.

It is my hope that every educator who reads this book will embrace at least one strategy that will support students on their journeys as successful readers and writers, and incorporate maker learning to support the growth of out-of-the-box thinkers, budding inventors, and creative designers.

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Maker Movement Resources: Blogs, Books, and More!

The following resources provide helpful information on the maker movement.

Blogs •• Ideas and Inspiration by Demco (https://ideas.demco.com /category/blog) •• Renovated Learning by Diana Rendina (www.renovatedlearning.com/blog) •• The Daring Librarian by Gwyneth Jones (www.thedaringlibrarian.com) •• Spencer Ideas by John Spencer (www.spencerauthor.com /blog) •• Edutopia (www.edutopia.org) •• Agency by Design (www.agencybydesign.org /media-publications)

Books •• Makerspaces in School: A Month-by-Month Schoolwide Model for Building Meaningful Makerspaces by Lacy Brejcha (2018) •• The Kickstart Guide to Making Great Makerspaces by Laura Fleming (2018) •• Zero to Maker: A Beginner’s Guide to the Skills, Tools, and Ideas of the Maker Movement by David Lang (2017) •• Transforming Libraries: A Toolkit for Innovators, Makers, and Seekers by Ron Starker (2017)

Podcasts •• Making It by Jimmy DiResta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto (www.makingitpodcast.com) •• STEAM Up the Classroom by Tori Cameron (www.steamuptheclassroom.com) •• STEM Everyday by Chris Woods (http://dailystem.com /stem-everyday-podcast) page 1 of 2 Remaking Literacy © 2020 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/literacy to download this free reproducible.

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Websites •• Makerspaces.com (www.makerspaces.com) •• Makerspace for Education (www.makerspaceforeducation .com/makerspace.html) •• Maker Maven (www.makermaven.net) •• Cybrary Man (www.cybraryman.com/makerspaces.html) •• STEAM Makers (www.steam-makers.com) •• Remake Learning (https://remakelearning.org) •• Maker Ed (https://makered.org)

page 2 of 2 Remaking Literacy © 2020 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/literacy to download this free reproducible.

Chapter 1 © 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

What the Research Says Learning should be an active process. Too often, students come to school to watch their teachers work.

—Willard R. Daggett It’s back-to-school time, and teachers are excitedly returning to their classrooms with new decorations and ideas for a new year. Brightly colored bulletin boards are hung with care and furniture is rearranged. I love this time of year when teachers are recharged after a summer of reading and reflecting. They always come back with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and new strategies to implement in their classrooms. It’s inspiring to walk the halls at the beginning of the year to see how the teachers are welcoming back their students.

One fifth-grade classroom has a prominently displayed colorful bookshelf, but it is not filled with books. While many of the shelves around the room are stacked with graphic novels, leveled texts, and sets of picture books, this shelf is different. It is part of the classroom makerspace corner where students have access to materials like yarn, felt, beads, bottle caps, and modeling clay. This area is a new addition to the classroom but will soon become a popular spot for students to bring their stories to life through tinkering, design, building, and prototyping.

T

his literacy teacher has developed a plan to incorporate the hands-on materials from her maker corner into her ELA lessons. She has gathered simple materials from the classroom, her home, and the craft store to create this makerspace. Students will have the chance to use making to explore key elements from favorite novels, create 3-D models of story settings, and design props for characters. These active learning components will engage this teacher’s students and increase their creativity over the course of the school year.

Through her own summer reading, the teacher found blogs, books, and websites focused on the maker movement and how she might implement

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them in her classroom. She started small, with just a shelf with a few basic materials. She didn’t overhaul her whole instructional approach; she just looked for small ways to incorporate active learning through making into her existing lessons.

Benefits of Maker Learning The maker movement brings together the content knowledge of multiple subject areas and carves out a pathway to apply that knowledge through making. It builds the creativity, collaboration, and problem solving the unknown future will require of our students. Steve Davee, Lisa Regalla, and Stephanie Chang (2015) assert, “The interdisciplinary and empowering nature of makerspaces can help prepare youth for a future we can’t yet imagine” (p. 10). R. Steven Kurti, Deborah Kurti, and Laura Fleming (2014) note the beneficial nature of this movement, explaining: Maker education fosters curiosity, tinkering, and iterative learning, which in turn leads to better thinking and better questioning. This learning environment fosters enthusiasm for learning, student confidence, and natural collaboration. Ultimately, the outcome of maker education and educational makerspaces leads to determination, independent and creative problem solving, and an authentic preparation for the real world. (p. 21)

With the emergence of the maker movement, research has found numerous benefits students experience when making is a part of their school experience, including building content knowledge, skills, and dispositions; empowering and engaging students; and fostering literacy development.

Building Content Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions Rena Dorph and Matthew A. Cannady (2014) find that students gain important content knowledge, skills, and dispositions through participation in maker learning (see table 1.1 for lists of these gains). When we equip students with dispositions like flexibility and risk taking, they are more apt to become self-directed, inquisitive young people.

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

In this chapter, we’ll examine the research base behind the benefits of maker learning, and how making supports active reading, applies across content areas, promotes enthusiasm for reading, supports thinking practices, offers accessibility for all learners, facilitates social learning, and supports text connections.

What the Research Says

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Table 1.1: Content Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions Related to Maker Learning

Content Knowledge

Skills

Dispositions

• Communication

• Perseverance

• Design process

• Problem solving

• Flexibility

• Data analysis

• Listening

• Risk taking

• Physics

• Questioning

• Empathy

• Architecture

• Organization

• Motivation

• Scientific method

• Planning

• Curiosity

Source: Dorph & Cannady, 2014.

In a study of the benefits of maker learning, researchers find that this type of activity can facilitate connected learning (Hartnett, 2016).

Connected learning happens when individuals pursue passions that are also linked to academic content. In their report on connected learning, Mizuko Ito et al. (2013) find that maker learning provides connected learning experiences and is linked to academic gains, career success, and civic engagement. Ito et al.’s (2013) model of connected learning is based on the idea that active learning through making results in increased engagement and sustained interest in relevant content. So, by adding making to our existing content, we can provide more connected learning experiences for students.

Leanne Bowler (2014), an assistant professor in library and information science at the University of Pittsburgh, finds making increases student confidence; once students are successful in maker projects, they feel they can pursue more advanced tasks in the future. If making boosts student confidence in advanced tasks, perhaps their confidence in reading might also increase as making experiences are paired with literacy tasks.

Educational researchers Shirin Vossoughi and Bronwyn Bevan (2014) report that motivation, persistence, and resourcefulness increase when students experience hands-on making. Aren’t dispositions like persistence and motivation ones we want to instill in our young people?

Empowering and Engaging Students Developing student engagement and building student agency are central to the mission of our educational system. Research reveals the importance of youth voice when students are engaged in making (Bowler, 2014; Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). Maker learning experiences also support

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

• Engineering

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student choice in learning and allow learners to share their passions and strengths. Students are empowered to make choices, express themselves, and build confidence when they can work from their strengths.

Fostering Literacy Development As educators develop these important dispositions and skills through making, we can simultaneously foster literacy development. Paulo Blikstein’s (2014) research demonstrates the connection between literacy skills and the ways that more tactile learning opportunities can strengthen student understanding. It follows that pairing content learning with hands-on making will lead to improvements in student understanding, communication, and an even stronger interest in school.

Blikstein (2014) also finds that vocabulary improves and student dialogue increases in complexity when students are engaged in the shared process of design and making. Making provides the ultimate authentic audience for speaking, listening, and writing. Students become the experts when they explain design, processes, and decisions. Students are empowered when they are the facilitators of their own learning (Martin, 2015). Shouldn’t this be our mission—to equip our young learners and empower them to go out into the world with confidence and direction?

Making can also foster speaking and listening skills essential to literacy and applicable across disciplines. Kylie Peppler’s (2013) research finds that as students work with new tools and materials, there are rich opportunities for meaningful dialogue and feedback in the classroom. Educators can develop student speaking and listening by intentionally asking questions during instruction that push student thinking and support literacy

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Teachers can create powerful, persistent, passionate learners by empowering them with choice and allowing them to pursue learning that is meaningful to them. Sometimes that means veering off your intended course and allowing students the time and space to demonstrate their learning in other ways. Using remaking literacy strategies allows you to lift up learners and focus on their strengths by letting them explore different ways to express understanding. If a student isn’t a strong writer, making offers other ways for the student to demonstrate his or her understanding. If a student isn’t a strong speaker, making offers other ways to convey his or her message. If a student isn’t a strong reader, making offers opportunities for collaborative teamwork that lifts up struggling readers and allows the strengths of each student to shine through a hands-on group project.

What the Research Says

17

during making experiences. Talking with students and asking, “Why do you think that?” or “Tell me more about why you chose that,” can open up conversations with students that enhance learning in literacy and in making.

Getting students to be active readers is hard work. It requires modeling, exposure to engaging text, and strategies that will allow students to build meaning through reading.

Research shows that developing the literacy of students requires conversations, reflection, notetaking, and grappling with ideas (Fisher & Frey, 2014). Classroom teachers use a variety of active reading strategies to engage students with the text, including the following.

Identifying new words Making predictions Looking for connections (self, text, world) Thinking aloud about the text Asking and answering questions Marking the text Summarizing These strategies are effective, but remaking literacy elevates these simple strategies by adding physical methods that increase both student interest and engagement. Brain researchers find that physical learning experiences activate the sensorimotor part of the brain, which helps reinforce what students are learning (Kontra, Lyons, Fischer, & Beilock, 2015). So, when we pair vocabulary instruction with manipulatives, we will create stronger learning connections for students. As we incorporate the physical experiences of making when we read stories and build writing skills, we are activating student understanding.

According to Edgar Dale (1969), we remember only 5 percent of what we hear and 10 percent of what we read. While Dale’s (1969) research is a bit dated, it is still relevant to today’s educational system, as we often rely on listening and reading as the primary means of our instructional delivery. This idea of multimodal teaching and learning has been revisited since Dale’s original work. Alejandro Andrade (2017) and Blikstein (2013) both continue the discussion on instructional delivery and the ways that

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How Making Supports Active Reading

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If we believe the research, then educators must question why most of their instruction focuses on literacy practices based in seeing and hearing that limit student understanding. Remaking helps to increase understanding by adding making and doing. That’s the power of remaking.

We are taking existing literacy practices that we know are effective and adding a layer of doing that amplifies learning and expands opportunities for students.

Khaled Hosseini (as cited in Mark, 2013) reminds us, “Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work.” The remaking mindset emphasizes learning by doing and the belief that learning should be active and that the learner constructs knowledge.

Integration of Making Across Content Areas As noted previously, this book argues that an integrated approach to content through remaking literacy will result in increases in student understanding, communication, and creativity. It has the power to inspire interest, foster engagement, develop understanding of processes, and support student thinking (Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). Research from Lee Martin and Colin Dixon (2013) reveals that young makers actually preferred making that was integrated within other subjects or activities as opposed to making in isolation. When we take an integrated approach to making, students are able to see the connections between the content they are learning and the way they are applying it in a hands-on way. Building bridges between what they know and what they are making can solidify their learning and make abstract thoughts and ideas more concrete.

The pace of literacy improvement hasn’t kept up with the pace of innovation in our global economy (Graham & Hebert, 2010). Innovations in technology have changed in response to new jobs and economic demands

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

we can impact the trajectory of a student by incorporating strategies beyond listening and reading as the primary source of learning. Hearing and reading are often the dominant ways in which students experience instruction in literacy classrooms, despite these low percentages regarding retention. Consider that Dale (1969) also asserts that we remember 75 percent of what we do. If that theory is true, then we really need to remake our practices to incorporate more active reading strategies into our classrooms. We need to create time to make and talk with others about our making as a part of our literacy classrooms. By remaking and readjusting our existing literacy practices, we can increase what students remember.

What the Research Says

19

Enthusiasm for Reading When students are innovating, they are thinking, exploring, designing, and creating. They are activating their imaginations and considering possibilities. How do we share with students the imaginative engagement and sense of wonder that come from reading? Sometimes we share it by demonstrating passion for reading ourselves, as teachers. Other times students understand it through experiencing the amazingness of the story itself.

Maker Memo Do you have a favorite book memory that fueled your desire to make? What story from your childhood has great maker potential?

Use #RemakeLiteracy to share it on social media.

When you were young, did you have a favorite book that you read on your own under the covers with a flashlight, or one that was read to you as you snuggled with a parent before bed, or one that a caring teacher read aloud? For me, that book was C. S. Lewis’s (1950) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In one of my early memories of loving books, I was a fourth grader, lying on the floor of my classroom as the teacher read Lewis’s novel aloud. The story was engaging, quirky at times, and scary at other points, but I found myself wanting to be in the story. I wanted to feel the heavy coats around me as I crept through the wardrobe. I felt the frigidness of the ice castle contrasted by the warm coziness of Mr. Tumnus’s cave. Long before this story was turned into a movie, I was playing the movie in my mind, dreaming of the snowy pathways through the forest and the intricate details of the Beaver lodge.

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

across the globe, but literacy has remained essentially the same. While there are critical foundational skills that must be a part of our instruction, we have the opportunity to bring innovation into literacy and create opportunities that are more engaging and empowering for young learners. Researchers are finding that the integration of English language arts with science can be an effective approach to teaching content, reasoning skills, and literacy (Bosse & Fogarty, 2011). Combining ELA with science strategies like the engineering design process may help to prepare students for the kinds of thinking and collaboration that will be required in the future. Remaking our literacy practices is one potential pathway for meeting the advancing academic expectations as well as the demands of our global economy.

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Think about the ways that we might remake this literature favorite.

For example, this title can prompt reimagining vocabulary instruction by implementing the following activities.

Building physical models of words like token, muzzle, hoist, or hatchet Creating video animations to demonstrate words like sorrowfully, jeering, gloating, treacherous, or din How might we use the vivid imagery from the story to paint, build, and sculpt to make the images jump right off the page? Students might create tabletop cardboard wardrobes that could open to reveal student writing.

They could use the wardrobes to enhance story summaries, character analyses, or creative chapter rewrites. Using modeling clay, students might create a favorite character and then make audio recordings of themselves explaining why that character is critical to the story.

When we design these experiences for students, it can be challenging at first. Some students don’t come with the experience required for deep thinking or open-ended creation. Some students look for more guidance and structure than maker learning provides. We may need to take time to build students’ thinking skills and their confidence as designers and makers. We can take steps to equip them to think creatively about problems and wonder deeply about new ideas.

How Making Supports Thinking Practices Thanks to foundational researchers John Dewey (1938) and Jean Piaget (1964), we know that activating prior knowledge is helpful to learners constructing new knowledge and especially important for young readers tackling a text. But we want our students to go beyond activating existing

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Some thirty years later, I still have these vivid pictures in my mind, but, for me, the experience of reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe fell a little short. I think back to Dale’s (1969) assertion that we remember 75 percent of what we do and wish that my teacher had taken it a step further by encouraging our class to make and do. I wish that hands-on making had been a part of that literacy experience. How I longed to create the icy landscape of the story, construct the queen’s snow sleigh, or build a wardrobe of my own. I wanted to create scenes from the story and expand that literacy experience. Imagine what we might have created with access to materials and the time and space to build our dreams!

What the Research Says

Other imaginative, hands-on tools that allow students to demonstrate and deepen their thinking while supporting a creative outlet include sketching, video creation, or performance. For example, it may be challenging for students to articulate or write their understanding of the mood or theme of a story, but we can offer them a hands-on way to show these understandings through making in a way that is meaningful to them. Making thinking visible stretches beyond what is on the page, beyond what can be accomplished with paper and pencil, and gives learners the chance to express their thoughts in unique ways.

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knowledge and push them to create new ideas, questions, and solutions.

Readers who use active thinking strategies such as activating prior knowledge and making connections to the text engage with the text and comprehend what they are reading (Duke & Pearson, 2017). To support this, classroom teachers use things like K-W-L charts, story maps, and other brainstorming tools. K-W-L charts can help facilitate student thinking about what they know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they have learned (L; Szabo, 2007). Teachers create these classroom charts with students. The development of these charts occurs through discussions of student understanding, with the teacher documenting each category to make student thinking visible through the chart. Story maps are another way to make literacy thinking visible by documenting important features from any piece of literature, such as summarizing the story by recording the characters, setting, plot, and conclusion or other important elements of the story. Story maps can come in a variety of forms as a way for students to share their thinking. When students use these tools in the ELA classroom, they are creating evidence for what they are thinking, which is particularly helpful for struggling readers and writers. These tools offer templates for thinking and writing that can help make student thinking visible to themselves and others. They can be used individually or in small groups to build student understanding and spark dialogue among learners (Alturki, 2017). Working in small groups allows students to work collaboratively on projects, increasing communication skills and problem solving. Student groups can be based on reading development, interest, or student choice. This option also promotes more personalized learning as students can make decisions about their work. The idea of remaking our literacy practices is founded on the premise that students shouldn’t need to follow an exact recipe, but instead should make individual and group choices that guide their learning in the classroom space.

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Instructional example Remaking our instruction doesn’t always have to begin with a piece of literature. Remaking can also happen in the way that we engage students in speaking, listening, or writing, too! For example, as a springboard into potential maker learning, consider a thinking practice that focuses on creative questions around an everyday object. Imagine providing small groups of students with a common object to observe and take notes on at their tables. Maybe students can focus on a light bulb, a paper clip, or a piece of fruit. Next, they would brainstorm a series of wonderings about the object.

Let’s take the example of the paper clip. Learners might generate questions like the following.

• How would the paper clip be different if it were made with different materials?

• What would change if multiple clips were connected together?

• What other uses might we have for this tool?

Once they generate questions, students can pursue one of their lines of inquiry to further extend their thinking through writing, research, or drawing. Students revisit the original object and reflect on any new learnings or discoveries that came out of the exercise.

This thinking practice (and many others) aligns with remaking literacy. Using the same strategy, present a book, an antagonist, a plot twist, or a challenging theme to a small group of students. Allow them to brainstorm the creative questions they may have, such as:

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The research of Ron Ritchhart, Patricia Palmer, Mark Church, and Shari Tishman (2006) promotes the concept of making our thinking visible. They have explored dozens of strategies to create a culture of thinking in schools. Their research finds that learners increase communication skills and collaboration when employing these strategies (Ritchhart et al., 2006). Making thinking visible can happen with the implementation of different routines in the classroom. By incorporating discussion protocols and pairing them with an active task, students can demonstrate their understanding to the group through the way they draw, connect ideas, or move throughout the room. These strategies can be used within the ELA classroom to build understanding of text and prompt students to think about their own thinking. Remaking literacy combines the thinking strategies effective readers and writers use and pairs them with hands-on learning experiences that extend and deepen student understanding.

What the Research Says •

23

How would the story have played out under the following different circumstances?

•

•

In another period of time

•

In a different location

•

If the main character were an animal

Suppose that the dialogue were removed from the story, •

How would that impact the plot?

•

How could the opening chapter be retold in lieu of this change?

As students explore one part of a question related to the text, they can use maker strategies to play out the possibilities. Students might design and build the new location of the story as a physical model or use a digital tool to animate the story without dialogue. The extension of the text through making can increase meaningful conversations among students (Peppler, 2013) and strengthen understanding across content areas (Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014).

Accessibility for All Learners The learning needs of each student are different. The beauty of maker learning is that it offers opportunities for all types of learners. Laura Fleming and Billy Krakower (2016) assert that making “democratizes learning,” making it accessible to all students. Not every student loves reading, but we can create pathways that include students who don’t love reading in literacy learning in different and inviting ways. A 2017 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) report by Joann Blumenfeld and Sheryl Sotelo notes that providing hands-on opportunities to help students learn content “motivates the most reluctant learners” (p. 6).

With an increase in the number of students with autism spectrum disorder, those with physical disabilities, and those whose first language is not English, schools are looking for ways to make the environment more inclusive for all children. I have seen in my school how making offers effective options for learners who need alternative ways to learn things. In my experience, students who don’t engage in traditional classrooms often excel in a makerspace. Remaking literacy provides multiple pathways to demonstrating understanding. This means that our kinesthetic learners who need to move and be active can work to those strengths. Our creative

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

and consider—

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thinkers can use those abilities. Our hands-on learners who work better with manipulatives can build and reimagine in ways that traditional literacy instruction simply does not permit (Durnberg, 2014).

Remaking Literacy as a Social Practice In a blog for Digital Promise, Stefani Pautz and Josh Weisgrau (2019) state, “Powerful learning is collaborative and connected.” This is, in part, why maker learning has found its way into the education system.

Xin Zhang et al. (2016) find that children who worked in collaborative groups became better decision makers. When compared to conventional direct instruction, students who engaged in collaboration made decisions and applied skills when presented with a new task.

Effective literacy learning does not happen in isolation, but as a social practice emphasizing the role of language (Larson & Marsh, 2014).

Literacy development happens through conversations, sharing of new ideas, and interactions surrounding text. Through collaboration, we build on the idea that the collective knowledge of the group increases understanding for all students. Rich dialogue advances the learner’s perspective and allows new thoughts to be considered. It is that process that builds collective understanding for students as they gather together to construct knowledge and share ideas. The social interactions of effective readers also align well with the social nature of making. When we remake our literacy practices, we magnify literacy as a social practice.

Think about the ways we already create communities of readers through neighborhood book clubs and classroom literature circles. When people gather to share a love of literacy, knowledge builds and understanding deepens. Readers talk about how they connect with characters and discuss the ways that books have an impact on their lives. Readers gather to socialize around books because it makes them think and gain new perspectives through their relationships with other readers.

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

It has been my experience that maker learning is often the type of opportunity that students with learning challenges need most. It allows students to build new knowledge and maker skills, while also developing critical collaboration and social skills so that students can interact in positive ways in school, career, and beyond.

What the Research Says

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Maker Memo When students are engaged in maker learning, they are chatting, critiquing, and even disagreeing. They are actively pursuing a task while connecting with those around them. This might get noisy at times or even feel chaotic, but home in on the conversations that learners are having and you will hear the rich dialogue that lets you

Remaking literacy means that we are looking at reading, writing, speaking, and listening through a new, innovative lens that incorporates maker opportunities by bringing a community of readers together as a community of makers. We often gain a deeper understanding of text when we gather to discuss it and learn from the perspectives of others. Making provides a similar experience. Those who gather to make form authentic connections; connections to one another, connections to content, and connections to text can be leveraged when we remake our literacy practices.

How Making Supports Text Connections Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann (1997) remind us that the connections that we make when we are reading are critical to comprehension. When we model effective reading strategies for our students, we help them build text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.

Through these connections, readers understand how characters feel, why authors write the way they do, and how other readers engage with text.

Most important, when we nurture reading connections, it forces students to be active in their reading—a goal of remaking literacy. Making connections to literacy can’t happen through passive learning. It requires that learners are constantly thinking, questioning, and engaging with the text to develop comprehension. Remaking strategies aim for these types of connections as well, as we develop student understanding of text.

Beyond a reader’s connections to text, there are also connections that text can provide to the work happening in our classrooms. Think about the books that you read aloud to your students. They likely provide a connection to maker learning through content, theme, or character dispositions. Children’s literature can lead to making experiences through these literacy connections. By pairing literacy learning with hands-on opportunities, we can increase student understanding of text, but also

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

know they are on task and engaged in deep learning.

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REMAKING LITERACY

equip students with future-ready skills like creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills.

Maker Memo Check out the Padlet at https://padlet.com/jmaslyk1/tmhfcf8rpy8z for an ongoing list of great books for content, theme, and char-

There are many books that get students wondering and innovating and lend themselves to tinkering, designing, building, and prototyping. Books about science or inventions may be a good place to start, but don’t stop there! These are easy connections, but stretch beyond these topics and show your students that making can happen within just about any story.

There are so many great books that support the maker movement and design thinking practices with students. Children’s book authors weave beautiful stories of perseverance and curiosity. Smart, creative characters are thinking abstractly, learning teamwork, and solving problems by applying critical content knowledge. These are the kinds of stories our students should be reading! The following sections describe how teachers can use literature in the classroom to connect learning to content, theme, or dispositions.

Content The content of children’s literature varies, but many content areas directly lend themselves to making experiences. These content connections are the most literal and often the easiest to connect. If you are reading about inventors, students can invent something. Reading about experiments? Conduct some! A number of amazing children’s books have been published that relate to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content, which is one viable option for remaking literacy.

Appendix A (page 147) contains an extensive list of content-themed book options teachers can use in K–5 classrooms as a read-aloud, small-group book selection, or independent reading book to support remaking literacy.

Content-focused books are the ones that probably come to mind first when considering an opportunity for making. These titles naturally lend themselves to extensions of learning beyond the text. Books about inventions, scientific discoveries, and architecture provide content knowledge for students while also leading learners into hands-on experiences.

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

acter dispositions.

What the Research Says

27

Theme

Instructional Example As another example, consider how the book Not a Stick (Portis, 2008), a picture book featuring sticks, can inspire making using sticks. The main character, an imaginative pig, carries a stick throughout the book, explaining that it isn’t a stick, but a number of different things. Students love how the illustrations show the stick transformed into other imaginative things and quickly want to design their own. In a kindergarten class at my school, the teacher used this story and gave each student a craft stick from a box bought at a dollar store. Each student created an illustration that involved gluing his or her stick to a piece of paper and adding illustrations. One stick turned into the base of a scooter (see figure 1.1, page 28, for this student work sample), another the horn of a unicorn, and another the antenna of a butterfly. The students wrote short sentences to describe their stick creations. The experience gave the students the chance to use their imaginations and express themselves through art and writing, all connected to a piece of children’s literature.

Books made with beautiful materials serve as artistic inspiration for students. Dozens of books by the popular author and illustrator Eric Carle send students rushing for the tissue paper in hopes of creating colorful characters and scenes as he does. Other books with unique features include Beautiful Oops! (Saltzberg, 2010), which inspires new ideas through creative mistakes, and Resourceful Erica (Gagliardi & Glaser, 2014), which prompts crafting and building with newspaper. Chapter 4 (page 85) on low-tech making provides lots of examples along with great

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Overarching themes of some books can easily translate to student projects in the same medium to connect to maker opportunities. For example, in the book Secret Seahorse (Blackstone & Beaton, 2004), the illustrations are all made from felt and fabrics. Students might explore working with felt in a number of artistic ways, much like a designer would do. There are some great titles about boxes, which teachers can pair with building opportunities with recycled cardboard. This is one of the simplest, cheapest ways to get students making. Give them a pile of cardboard and some duct tape. You will be amazed at what they come up with. Cardboard is perfect as a larger building material as well as for smaller, more intricate making with tool-savvy students in the makerspace.

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stories that will draw in your students. Appendix A (page 147) contains an extensive list of themed book options teachers can use in K–5 classrooms as a read-aloud, small-group book selection, or independent reading book to support remaking literacy.

Books with certain themes provide opportunities for students to become authors and illustrators, making in the same imaginative ways. Theme connections often lead students to artistic design work and tinkering with new materials.

The dollar store is a maker’s best friend. Craft sticks, glass marbles, plastic bags, and coffee filters can all be used to remake your literacy practices.

Character Dispositions

Dispositions that we want to build in our students include grit, tenacity, flexibility, curiosity, empathy, and being observant. Such dispositions may be considered 21st century skills and can be found within inspiring characters in the books we read. These dispositions are also skills for life that we can nurture within the ELA classroom. How do we develop these dispositions in the classroom? It is not likely that students will gain these critical dispositions if they are participating in the fiveday death march each week. We have to stop and ask ourselves if our

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Figure 1.1: Not a Stick student work sample.

What the Research Says

29

Active, hands-on learning provides the opportunity for students to fail, go back to the drawing board, and try again. When we remake our literacy instruction, we support students as they think beyond the text.

By giving students hands-on learning within traditionally non-hands-on subject areas, we are reaching more learners and engaging them in thinking creatively about themselves, about books, and about learning. Reading and English language arts instruction traditionally focus on text as opposed to Making and hands-on activities. Social studies is similar, in that it remaking involves focuses primarily on text. These subjects offer opporfailure that students tunities to embed hands-on learning to increase may not be used to. understanding while also exposing learners to a Be sure to reinforce the importance of new strategy. perseverance with These three connections of content, theme, and your students. character dispositions offer avenues for teachers who want to use making in the classroom but don’t know how to start. As teachers consider implementing remaking, they can choose a title and look for a connection to one of these three areas. If you read in your class, there will be a book and a making experience that will work for you, one that may start with a connection through content, theme, or dispositions. Once you explore some of the titles listed in appendix A (page 147), others will surely come to mind.

Maker Memo What books do you use in your classroom that connect to making through content, theme, or disposition? Don’t forget to use the hashtag #RemakeLiteracy.

© 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

current practices are helping or hindering students. If your curriculum does not allow for creative challenges, group work, problem solving, or open-ended thinking, then students are not gaining these dispositions in your classroom! Remaking in a hands-on manner gives learners an added layer to building these dispositions as they grapple with the engineering design process or tap into visible thinking skills that push their thinking and develop their literacy skills. Appendix A (page 147) contains an extensive list of disposition-related book options teachers can use in K–5 classrooms as a read-aloud, small-group book selection, or independent reading book to support remaking literacy.

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Conclusion

Minds on Making Reflect on the following three questions for professional development or personal reflection.

1. In what ways do you already use active reading strategies with your students?

2. How might hands-on making enhance the existing strategies to increase student engagement and understanding?

3. What books do your students enjoy? Do they lead to maker learning through content, theme, or character dispositions?

Š 2020 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Remaking literacy will give students the connection to text that you have been working to build all year. It will engage the disengaged and interest the inattentive. Maker learning can prepare students for the creative challenges of the future (Davee et al., 2015). This type of learning empowers our students and fosters a unique set of skills and dispositions that will benefit students far beyond the school walls (Kurtiet al., 2014).

As we fuel student curiosity and engage them in problem solving, we can develop better thinking and better questioning skills, which support all aspects of the curriculum but particularly literacy. The innovative literacy practices in the next several chapters will make texts more accessible to all learners and give them chances to participate in ways that build on their strengths.

y c a r e t i L

Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning, Grades K–5

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/literacy to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

Educator and Author “Maslyk’s book is a must-have for all K–5 teachers who want to add a different spin to literacy in their classrooms. Remaking Literacy infuses literacy concepts into the world of making. This book is a must-read if you are a maker or need new ways to spark students’ writing.”

—BILLY KRAKOWER, Author and Co-Founder, Evolving Educators

Maslyk

• Examine the ways maker education can enhance teaching and empower student learning • Learn how to reimagine instruction so students build crucial literacy, collaboration, and thinking skills • Study various low- and high-tech resources and how to use them in the classroom • Receive checklists and planning tools for incorporating maker and design techniques in classrooms immediately • Reflect on each chapter’s strategies and ideas by answering end-of-chapter questions

—JENNIFER WILLIAMS,

Innovative Instructional Strategies

K–5 teachers and administrators will:

“Offered as a practical guide for elementary educators ready to transform literacy instruction, Remaking Literacy is a mustadd book for a classroom teacher’s bookshelf. With readyto-implement ideas backed by research and practice, Jacie Maslyk supports readers to be curious designers as they tinker and explore with innovative ways of thinking and teaching.”

for Maker Learning, Grades K–5

In Remaking Literacy: Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning, Grades K–5, author Jacie Maslyk transforms literacy teaching and learning by integrating maker education into the classroom. Maker education—an approach to instruction that emphasizes hands-on learning experiences—creates innovative opportunities that shape students into creative thinkers. Maslyk shares practical, research-based strategies for incorporating creativity and design thinking into literacy instruction.

K–5 educators will learn how to reimagine their classrooms so students’ learning develops in engaging and visible ways.

Remaking Literacy

REMAKING

REMAKING

y c a r Lite Grades K–5

Innovative Instructional Strategies for Maker Learning

JACIE MASLYK